Arsecast Extra Episode 710 - 01.09.2026

0:00Hi, I'm Max Rushton, the host of The Guardian Football Weekly, alongside me, Barry Glendening, my co-host. Hey, Barry. Hello. Now, although every American found us during the World Cup, for the two that didn't, what can they expect? Found us and fell in love with us, Max. They can expect three episodes each week of occasionally insightful analysis covering the Premier League, Champions League and beyond. Football Weekly is back. Watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

0:40James McNicholas: Hello and welcome to another Arsecast Extra. As always, we're James from Gunnerblog. That's what it was. I should remember that. Fucking hell. James, goodly morning to you.

0:52Andrew Allen: Goodly morning, Andrew.

0:54James McNicholas: How are you doing? I'm okay. I'm okay. We've got to talk football. We've got to talk transfers. It's a transfer deadline day. Obviously, the main focus is the football, but people are very interested in what's going on or not going on from a transfer perspective. So I think it'll be a busy one.

1:11Andrew Allen: Yeah, lots to address for sure. Mikhail Teta said he, would you say he disconnected from the world for 24 hours to focus on the game? So maybe that's what we'll do first.

1:24James McNicholas: Disconnect from the world for 24 hours, come back tomorrow and see what's happened? it's not a bad idea actually yeah i don't hate that yeah i don't hate that either well yeah listen we'll talk football first and foremost obviously because that is the most important thing but there is plenty going on departures uh for sure we know that that's going to be a part of today and incomings well that's another question a bigger question maybe a more important question for the people who are listening but i guess we start at villa park where arsenal came away with three points, a 1-0 win, thanks to a Bakayo Saka goal.

2:05James McNicholas: And, you know, before the game, because of all the players that Villa have lost this summer, there was a sense that this was maybe a good time to go to Villa Park. I think that kind of played out, even if something Mikel Arteta said afterwards, James, was about how he expected a reaction from Villa because of what happened to them last week against Brighton. It was a disaster of a day, a disaster of an opening day performance from them. So their first game at home, well, three quarters of their home anyway, because a big chunk of it was missing, you have to expect that they're going to make life really tough for you, even if in terms of personnel, they've lost some players and some of the players that they've brought in or have tried to bring in this summer aren't available to them yet?

2:55Andrew Allen: No, I mean, they had Nicholas Jackson, didn't they? Their new centre-forward who has come in to replace Ollie Watkins. It was very surreal and strange having that building site behind one of the goals. It was a real throwback to kind of 90s Premier League football where that seemed to be happening all the time as stadiums were expanding and the game was growing. But yeah, you do expect a bit more of a reaction from them after that terrible opening weekend. They had a number of their new signings kind of watching on from the stands and of course the home crowd behind them too. And Unai Emery, he's always up for it, isn't he?

3:32Andrew Allen: Against Arsenal. It's a game where he's usually able to produce a bit of an energy, a bit of momentum from his team. But I think to our credit, they struggled to do that. You know, I think this was a game that Arsenal largely controlled very, very effectively.

3:50James McNicholas: I think that's true. They were a bit more confident and lively than I had expected in the early part of the game. The early part of the game, I should say. I'm not getting emotional there. That's just a little frog in my throat. But, you know, it wasn't really a first half of loads of chances. I'm not sure we were quite where we were against Coventry, and that could be something to do with the level of the opposition, of course. A newly promoted team versus a team that's been pretty consistent in Premier League terms over the last number of seasons. It was an unchanged team for Mikel Arteta. The only changes were on the bench.

4:30James McNicholas: Bruno Gimaraes and Esri Konza included in the squad at the expense of Ethan Weneri and Max Daumann. not a lot happened in that first half though despite the control maybe that we had or certainly the way we were able to more or less nullify whatever little bit of threat that Aston Villa had I know they hit the bar were you watching on Sky did you get Sky?

4:55Andrew Allen: No I was watching on

4:58James McNicholas: Spanish DAZN okay for I am currently in Spain right I didn't know if you'd like a you know cookie skybox or something like that over there but the moment when emmy buendia hit the bar with a shot it came after a foul what i thought was a foul on on christos solace and yeah yeah at halftime thierry henry was going well yeah if that had gone in they would have looked at it and said that was a foul on christos solace and they would have you know called it back i did not share that confidence, I have to say, that that would have been disallowed for a foul, even though I thought it was absolutely a foul based on some of the other stuff and some of the other decisions that were made in this game.

5:41James McNicholas: But that was about Villa's only moment, wasn't it, in the first half where they caused any danger?

5:47Andrew Allen: It was, yeah. I mean, obviously we've got painful memories of Buendia from last season, and it was a good strike. Because I didn't have English commentary, I actually assumed in the moment that a foul had been given because I was like, it's such a clear foul. But it transpires no, which was a little bit alarming. And like you, I don't have a great deal of faith that it would have been sorted out on a review. So that was Villa's big moment. We had a couple. I mean, there was that Havertz moment where he was offside when he was slid in by Odegaard, just on the kind of right-hand side of the penalty area.

6:23Andrew Allen: And he kind of neither squared it nor shot. I mean, I think it was a shot, but his blushes were spared by the flag. I think it's fair to say. And then Declan Rice had a header from a sack of corner. Was that Rice at the near post?

6:38James McNicholas: It was, but I think that was also... A foul. There was a foul at the back post. Yeah, there was a foul at the back post. I think it was Gabrielle on John McGinn, the referee, given a foul there. So that wouldn't have counted either. and beyond that there wasn't really much going on from an attacking perspective from either side. I suppose the thing that stands out most in the first half is Solis himself in that he seemed to be rather weirdly, I thought, at the centre of the referee's attention for reasons I couldn't quite get a grip on. Now, you know, he had a very good opening day against Coventry.

7:21James McNicholas: I think he will have learned a bit from last night about what it takes in the Premier League, particularly away from home against better opposition. He didn't really have the same impact, but he got booked. And I thought it was a really, really soft booking, to be honest. I know it was a foul and it was clearly a foul, but it was very soft. And the referee couldn't wait to get his card out and give him a yellow card. And then there was a moment a bit later, not too long afterwards, where I think Matty Cash fouled him. And for whatever reason, Jared Gillett took it upon himself to lecture solace for being fouled rather than Matty Cash for making the foul.

8:08Andrew Allen: Yes, it was a bit of a welcome to the Premier League type refereeing performance, wasn't it? Where he almost seemed to find himself caught in the referee's sights. And that did worry me a little bit because, you know, whenever a player is on a booking, rightly or wrongly, they're walking a tightrope, aren't they? And it doesn't take much. And what we know about Solis from his limited time here with Arsenal is that he is a very committed player. He is a very hardworking player. He is a player who does like to press, like to do the defensive part of the game, like to close people down. when you do that you know you run the risk of contact and when you run the risk of contact it doesn't take much for referees to to tip over into a second yellow so yeah that was a little subplot through the first half and i i wasn't hugely surprised when michael arteta chose to

8:59James McNicholas: withdraw him at the interval no me neither me neither because there was another incident as well where villa broke and and there was a sort of coming together between him and mcgin and mcgin could not wait to snitch to the referee. You could see it. Barkley was doing it earlier in the game and McGinn was at it too. A pair of playground snitches. And they showed a bit of ref cam. I don't know if they showed it on the Spanish coverage, but they showed a bit of ref cam and the ref was saying, I played advantage, can't be a foul. There was nothing much in it anyway. But I think when you are in the referee's orbit in that way, and McGinn is chipping away and Barkley, whoever's chipping away And listen, so little happened in the first half that they made a big play of this Solis stuff in the halftime analysis on Sky.

9:48James McNicholas: I think it was basically because not much else happened. So they had to make a talking point out of something. Nevertheless, I think Mikel Arteta was absolutely right to take Solis off. Not necessarily because he was playing particularly badly. I don't think he had a good game, but he wasn't particularly bad. It was just that any one more incident involving him would probably have been fatal in terms of getting another card.

10:18Andrew Allen: Yeah, and I think it may not be the worst thing for Christos Solis to sort of gone through this slightly chastening 45 minutes. You know, everything's gone right for him, really, since he arrived at Arsenal. And while that's fantastic, you know, a game like this was, I think, inevitable. At some point he was going to hit a bit of a wall and go through a learning experience. And this, I think, was it. And I think that was always going to happen. I really, really do. So I'm hoping that he can, you know, take that on the chin and kick on from there because he does look to be a really, really exciting signing.

10:59Andrew Allen: But I was really intrigued, I must say, to see Eze coming on on that left-hand side at the same stadium where he himself was, I think, a half-time withdrawal in this match last season.

11:14James McNicholas: Yes, the Matty Cash incident. And who was he up against again? Matty Cash. And it was interesting to hear Arteta talk afterwards, sort of referencing that a little bit, saying I've got to be able to trust him or I've got to trust him. And I think Eze did make a difference when he came on. He was lively enough on that left-hand side and he was certainly very diligent in terms of his defensive work as and when he needed to do that. I mean, just before we talk about more stuff in the second half, One thing that slightly concerned me a little bit in the first half was, I don't know, we just felt a little bit open in quick transition moments, like a long ball forward.

11:55James McNicholas: And we didn't quite deal with those long balls well enough a couple of times. And it gave Villa just a little bit of impetus. I don't think they had a great deal of attacking threat, really. but those moments where perhaps we're seeing maybe the absence and it's not to be critical of Christian Mosquera because he played a very good part in the goal that we scored and overall was all right but just that solidity that Saliba and Gabriel give you at the back it's not quite there with Saliba or with Gabriela Mosquera.

12:24Andrew Allen: No and I think, listen, I think it's fair to look at the full-back situation as well where Calafiore, we'll probably talk glowingly about his contribution to the goal and White have been very, very good. But in terms of pure defending the space, are they insecure as Timber and Incapier, who we saw for significant stretches last season? Perhaps not. I think stylistically they're a little bit different. So I agree on the transition. We looked a little vulnerable. There were moments where Mattson, for example, threatened getting on the end of some long diagonals and getting him behind. But I do think by and large, as I said at the top this is a game that Arsenal mostly controlled about as much as you can expect to control an away game at Villa Park you know it's a ground where we've had real problems in the past even games we've won have been very very very hard for and David Raya was largely untroubled for long spells of this game which is a compliment to what was in front of him

13:24James McNicholas: well that's true that's true so second half we're awarded a penalty VAR then had a look decided that The contact was outside the box, which I think it was. So a direct free kick, which Martin Odegaard curled not too far wide. And, you know, the goalkeeper was pretty much rooted to the spot for that one, wasn't he?

13:46Andrew Allen: Yeah, I must say, I thought that was in for a split second as it kind of brushed the outside of the net. A decent effort for Martin Odegaard, who it's fair to say is due one on the free kick front. But we didn't have to wait too long for our winning goal.

14:02James McNicholas: Yeah, so listen, we did keep the ball well in the Villa half and in the final third without being too penetrative with the passing. That changed a little bit later, and we can talk about the introduction of Bruno Gimaraes. But we kept the ball, and this is just two really, really good passes in particular here. First one from Mosquera into Eze, between two Villa players. Eza then spots the run of Calafiore, who runs off the back of Matty Cash on the stretch, cuts it back, and there's Bakayo Saka to poke the ball home from close range again. I mean, there's two goals in two games for Bakayo Saka this season.

14:43James McNicholas: And I think I have an image, you know, of Eddie Nketiah sitting somewhere watching the TV going, yes, Bakayo is now scoring Eddie Nketiah goals. The close range kind of strikes that Eddie was really good at. He's in the right place at the right time last night, as he was against Coventry on the opening day.

15:07Andrew Allen: Finally, we have replaced Nketi. The wait is over. Yeah, exactly. Right place, right time. Coming off a hat-trick, of course, in his previous England appearance as well. So he's in fine goal-scoring form at the moment, Bukayo Saka. Beautifully created goal. you know real bit of craft and invention to it Mosquera was patient Eze was clever Calafuri irrepressible on that left hand side and Bakai Saka as you say is on the spot to poke it home and I really enjoyed his celebration as well pointing to the the champion's badge on the sleeve of the kit as he ran over to the away fans

15:45James McNicholas: I mean let's talk Calafuri just for a moment then because you know he he is this sort of irrepressible force in the opposition half. And that is kind of what catches the eye about him. I think defensively, he is underrated maybe a little bit. Certainly last season, I thought he was fantastic defensively in the first half of the season. But it's the job he's asked to do where he's sort of playing in midfield and then he's playing as an inside left and then he's sort of making center forward runs. and clearly this is something that Mikel Arteta has identified as a way of unsettling defences because, well, he's the left back and what is he doing in positions like that?

16:32James McNicholas: And we've talked before about the role of fullbacks in Mikel Arteta's football and how important they are to build up, how important they are to our attack. And everyone can see that Calafuri has got this kind of panache and this ability to create things, to make things happen in the final third. but two assists in two games, it feels like he's kind of, I know it's early days, but it does feel a little bit like he's elevated that aspect of his game. He got the opening assist for Kai Havertz last week. He got the assist for the only goal of the game this week. He is, I think, a player whose importance to Arsenal is growing from an attacking perspective.

17:17Andrew Allen: I think so. I mean, he was outstanding at the start of last season as well, but his season was kind of massively curtailed by injury issues and robbed him ultimately of the Champions League final. But I think he started this one brilliantly. And he could well be my favourite Arsenal player to watch from a pure kind of aesthetic standpoint in terms of how adventurous he is, how aggressive he is with his positioning, with his running. And you mentioned the defensive side. I mean, John McGinn, who was one of his opponents last night, I think he was on Stick to Football in the week and was asked who's impressed you as a defender that you've come up against in the Premier League.

18:00Andrew Allen: And Calafiore was one of the first names he plucked and spoke about how strong he is, how physical he is. It's just interesting to hear from another pro who's coming up against him that while we might appreciate the more attacking side of his game when you're actually playing against him, I think defensively he's a bit of a nightmare as well. So yeah, I think he's had a fantastic start to the season and I'm just crossing absolutely everything that he can stay fit and keep contributing like this.

18:29James McNicholas: Yeah, fantastic assist and his movement, you know, it's just split second stuff and that's kind of what you need at this level. It takes just a split second to catch a defender unaware and he's on the stretch, he pulls it back and Saka makes that finish to score the only goal of the game and ultimately take us back to North London with three points. I'm just trying to think what else we can really discuss here. I suppose Bruno Gimaraes is an interesting aspect of this because we were chatting a little bit during the game about what Mikel Arteta might do to change things. And I think Myles Lewis-Gelly had a good game again.

19:11James McNicholas: he's just so tidy on the ball. I did wonder if at times he was just a little bit risk averse in terms of his passing and whether that was something we might see from Bruno when he, when he came on, that would change things up a little bit. And I think you could see in the 20 odd minutes that he played, when he came on the 71st minute, so we played nearly half an hour because there were like eight minutes of added time. I don't know where the fuck they came from, But you could see in the time that he was on the pitch that there is, I don't want to say greater willingness, but more expertise, let's say, in spotting those passes and playing the ball forward.

19:55James McNicholas: There was one for Havertz. It was a nice move, I think, in midfield, the way we moved the ball around. And then he clipped it forward. I think Mikel Marina was involved as well. He clipped it forward for Havertz into the space. he went through, the keeper saved again, his blushes were spared, if you want to call it that, by the offside flag. Maybe there's a question mark or two about how often he was caught offside last night, Kai Havertz. But we saw that from Bruno in terms of how he can make that kind of pass. And then there was one at the edge of the box, from the edge of the Villa box, where he just played it through a packed defensive setup to find Saka.

20:33James McNicholas: Saka tried to pull it back to Havertz. I think it went out for a corner. But that kind of progressive passing is something I think we're going to see quite a bit more of over the course of this season. And you can kind of see when we have the midfield setup we do, if it doesn't quite work from Martin Odegaard, I think Louis Skelly, despite the fact he made a brilliant pass for Califiori in the Community Shield, I think he's a bit more of a facilitator. He's a bit more metronomic in terms of moving the ball around midfield rather than providing the incision that you would like or the incisiveness that you would like.

21:12And Bruno is a bit more, that's what he's looking for first and foremost.

21:18Andrew Allen: Yeah, he is. He's looking for it all the time and he plays it early. I don't know if it's his seniority, but he plays without that fear of losing the ball. You know, he's prepared to take the risk. And we did see that last night. I thought it was a really good cameo from him, actually. And he showed a lot of fire and spirit, which we associate with the player, but quality as well. Because we know Villa play with that high line too. And it is fine margins, you're right. I think Guy Habits was caught offside quite a few times last night and obviously trying to outwit that line. And I suppose Villa would argue, well, it was working relatively well if they caught him out.

21:58Andrew Allen: But it is something we might have been able to exploit a little more and a little earlier if we'd played in a slightly more direct fashion on occasions. And I think Bruno will bring that.

22:11James McNicholas: Yeah. I mean, there's maybe a question about pace in the team as well. If you're playing a Villa side with a high line and you don't really have that blistering pace to get in behind, that might be something that Arsenal need to consider or think of over the course of this season. Over the course of the day? Yeah, over the course of what remains of today. Well, just over 12 hours at the time of recording. But we'll come to that, I'm sure. We saw Esri Konza come on. He got, I think, a pretty generous welcome from the Villa fans. There were a few boos, but mostly applause, but then mostly boos whenever he was on the ball.

22:53James McNicholas: But that is, I guess, what happens with football fans. Hard to think his departure from Villa was in any way contentious. And he was very, very open, wasn't he, about how grateful he was for his time at Aston Villa. But I guess your former player, you're going to get a few boos when you go back there.

23:16Andrew Allen: I think so, yeah. Strange circumstances for him to make his debut. but you know a great sign immediately proving his value really as an addition to the squad with mascara coming off as a precaution the fact that we could call upon such an experienced Premier League centre-half to step in um I think the class will feel very satisfied with that

23:38James McNicholas: piece of business right now yeah um what else well I I don't know where eight minutes of injury time came from how did you feel at 1-0 because listen last season we talked about these games and these tight margin wins wins by a single goal margin and they shredded my nerves completely and I know you know it's different towards the business end of a season when so much is at stake versus a game right at the beginning of the season and we've won the title and that's a lot of pressure off we got rid of that that sort of ball and chain around our neck so we experienced things a little bit differently but I didn't really feel as much as I would have liked another goal and would have been you know much happier had we scored another goal I didn't get the same level of nervous energy as I did last season and it may be because of that but it might also be because I felt really confident by the way we were containing Villa from an attacking perspective.

24:45James McNicholas: They really didn't offer anything. They had a couple of speculative shots from Mattson, and that's really about it. So I felt more confident than nervous, I have to say. That might change as the season goes on and the importance of the three points grow in relation to what else is going on during the season, but I felt relatively comfortable. I don't know what you felt.

25:12Andrew Allen: No, I did too. I mean, I don't wish to sound too cocky or overconfident, but when Bukayo Saka prodded that ball into the net, I kind of thought to myself, I think that's probably that. This is not an Aston Villa, a strongest previous Villa sides we've seen, certainly not at this point in the season anyway. And Arsenal, they just have so much structure and solidity. I didn't see Villa finding a way to break them down, even if they did step up a bit after the goal. You know, suddenly there was a bit more intensity in Villa's play. But we held firm. We were resolute. So, yeah, I thought, I felt pretty comfortable and fortunately, that's how it proved to be.

25:59James McNicholas: Yeah, I mean, Mikel Arteta referenced the game last season as well where we lost it late and he talked about the players being on the floor and gutted. So there was probably, as you say, a measure of resoluteness, if that's the right way to say it, you know, about making sure that that didn't happen again. But it wasn't a case that we were under massive threat from Villa. You know, they took Jackson off, who was probably their most effective attacking player. And they put Tammy Abraham on, who was, you know, little or no threat. In that eight minutes, though, So I think we should have had a penalty right at the end when, is it Mattson?

26:38James McNicholas: I think it is Mattson, having already been booked for a pretty nasty one on Bakayo Saka out on the right-hand side, came flying in, jumped into a tackle with Bruno, got none of the ball, got the man, and somehow that was not a penalty. Like, again, I can accept the referee not seeing things clearly or not being able to make or feeling like he doesn't have the angle to make the right decision on that because of the way the ball bounced off. I do not understand how VAR has looked at that and decided that that's not a penalty. Like, what's going on?

27:19Andrew Allen: Yeah, very strange, that one, because he basically cleans him out. Yeah. As the ball is coming across into Bruno's path. I think the trajectory of the ball, the way that the ball kind of squirms out away from Bruno is probably what misleads the referee and adds a layer of confusion. But as you say, that's why they have video review to be able to clear that up.

27:42James McNicholas: Like if we can see that replay clearly from posts on social media or, you know, replays that are made available via the broadcasters, I just don't get it. I just don't understand how that cannot be a penalty. I don't understand how you can wave that away and say checked and cleared when he jumps in. Like anywhere else on the pitch, the referee is giving a free kick without even thinking about it. And I do understand the threshold for a penalty is higher, but he's literally two feet off the ground as he jumps in on a player in the box. It's a terrible decision. Thankfully, it's not one that cost us anything beyond a little bit of goal difference.

28:23James McNicholas: But honestly, that is just such a bad decision.

28:27Andrew Allen: Yeah, yeah. I also thought there might have been a shout for a foul on Havertz earlier in the game where he was kind of yanked down. It was about 65 minutes on the clock, it says in my notes here. But yeah, that last one was a really strange one. And it's almost one of those where you feel like, is the referee allowing the kind of game state to impact the decision-making? You know, oh, it stopped its time. Arsenal are winning already. Does it matter so much? But, you know, it might have really mattered. It might have really mattered.

29:00James McNicholas: Yeah, it might have. Thankfully, it didn't. I wonder, will we get the post-game? Oh, that should have been a penalty thing, which we can take or leave, I guess. But in another game on another day where that could be the difference between one point and three points, you'd be fuming if that decision wasn't given your way, right?

29:25Andrew Allen: Absolutely. And also, just a side note on that, It was interesting to see Bruno in that position, breaking forward into the penalty area. I think that's a part of his game that Michalate will be really interested in. So, yeah, I thought a very encouraging substitute performance from the summer signing there. Okay, so look, away from home, clean sheet, three points,

29:48James McNicholas: played Villa at what I think is a decent time. They've got some signings coming in, don't they? I didn't realise they got Goretzka. Yeah. They've got the young Ford guy and Bai. And Bai, is it? Yeah. The World Cup dude who was going to go to Newcastle then chose to go there. Oh, the Swiss guy. Yeah, exactly. You know, they do have some depth to add to the squad over the course of the season. I think, you know, there'll be a different proposition at Villa Park, you know, in a few weeks and a few months time when they get those players settled in and integrated. So I do think it was, despite the fact it wasn't maybe the most convincing performance from Arsenal, it was a good time to go there and to come away with all three points after what happened there last season was very welcome and their fans appeared to be very unhappy at everything.

30:45James McNicholas: I did like them singing Premier League corrupt as fuck when they didn't get a penalty, when their player dived in the box. And funny as well to hear Matty Cash talk about how, well, you can't compete with these teams that can spend millions and millions and millions when Villa have actually spent more than Arsenal this summer.

31:04Andrew Allen: Wow, there you go. I mean, yeah, I think it's a really great three points. We're three points up on last season as well at this point. We've turned that from a loss into a win. And I think as Villa get themselves together, plenty of teams will go there and drop points so I think we'll come to look back on this as like a really really solid result

31:29James McNicholas: yes and the building work that's happening at Villa Park are they extending the stand there or are they building a warehouse for Unai Emery's hair dye

31:42James McNicholas: we'll have to wait and see I guess Andrew could be either maybe it's both maybe indeed maybe indeed all right well listen It felt like too long between Arsenal games. You know, the Friday to Monday thing was a hell of an extended break and lots of other stuff has gone on in the Premier League this weekend. So it was good to be able to, you know, get that game out of the way, get the three points and we can focus obviously on Chelsea on Sunday, which is a different kind of test and certainly will be a test for the defence, a bit more than Villa were because of the potency of that Chelsea front line, even if they're still a bit of a work in progress under Xabi Alonso.

32:27James McNicholas: But we'll wait and see what they do over the course of today because they'll probably be active in the transfer market. Which brings us to transfer deadline day, James. And we're expecting stuff to happen. I suppose we should start with kind of what we know is going to happen. And that's going to be departures. So Gabriel Jesus is going to Barcelona. Yeah. That's a great move for him, isn't it? It really is. You know, last week we were chatting about maybe, do they just terminate his contract and get him off the wage bill? But a fee of around$10 million, is that right?

33:12Andrew Allen: We think$10 million, but with some add-ons. I'm not sure what the triggers are, but we think about four or five million euros potentially in add-ons as well.

33:21James McNicholas: Okay.

33:22Andrew Allen: I mean, I'm sort of pleasantly surprised Arsenal have extracted any fee for Gabriel. Yeah, me too. To be honest with you. Yeah, same, same. So, and he's certainly landed on his feet as far as the move goes. I mean, Barcelona, wow. Pretty, pretty decent spot for him to land. Gabriel Martinelli, we expect to leave today as well. 70 million euros 70 million euros

33:49James McNicholas: okay yeah to Al Halal

33:52Andrew Allen: and then Fabio Vieira would be another permanent departure about 9-10 million euros for him as well

34:01James McNicholas: right so back of a matchbook kind of maths here that's incoming total of around 130 million there or thereabouts you know on an outlay of 200 million I think, you know, it's Trossard plus Martinelli plus Jesus plus Vieira plus Norgard plus Kivior whose transfer fee was booked this period, wasn't it? Yeah. So that's that. And then it's a question of who, if anybody, is coming in. Oh, Ethan Wannery, by the way, going to Borussia Dortmund on loan. What do you think of that? I mean, I sort of would have liked to see him in the Premier League this season to see how he would have coped with that. But the Dortmund to, I guess, regular first team football or establishing yourself a Dortmund pathway to something better is a well-worn path.

35:08James McNicholas: You know, some big players have done that. Jude Bellingham, you look at Erling Haaland as well, who've moved to Dortmund and come through and really established themselves. So I have to say, I'm really pleased that Arsenal have decided to loan Ethan Wynary, even if it's not a Premier League club. I think a loan to see what he can do to develop, to mature as a footballer, maybe as a person, you know, as well. He's still very, very young. I'm really glad that we haven't just said, right, it's over for Ethan. And this is a chance for him to show what he can do, particularly when you look at the age profile of some of the Arsenal midfielders.

35:47James McNicholas: If he has a good loan spell in Germany at Dortmund, then it really does give Arsenal something to think about.

35:57Andrew Allen: It does. And I think even if you don't ultimately believe that Ethan will stay at Arsenal, I think this summer didn't make a great deal of sense as a time to sell him. You know, coming off the back of an underwhelming loan with Marseille that went wrong for all sorts of different reasons. I don't think his value is quite where it should be or where it could be. And I don't think the demand in the market for him is quite where it could or should be. So I think a loan makes a ton of sense. Obviously, there's a development opportunity for him. There's a chance he comes back to Arsenal as a first-team player, someone who's really ready in Mikel Arteta's eyes to compete and play a significant number of minutes.

36:44Or I think alternatively, he may develop away from the club.

36:49Andrew Allen: He may develop into a player that generates a market of his own and a much higher transfer fee. As far as I'm aware, it's a straight loan. There's no fixed fee attached to it, no option or obligation or anything like that. So Arsenal will be in control of the situation next summer. And Ethan's on a long enough contract for them to be in control. So, yeah, I think this makes a good deal of sense. And with the injury that Dortmund have suffered to their number 10, I think it's Constantelias, there should be plenty of opportunity for Ethan to play minutes there too.

37:24James McNicholas: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, hopefully a really good loan spell for him. I think there's talk of Tommy Setford, the young goalkeeper, going out on loan as well.

37:31Andrew Allen: Yeah, I think we could see that today. I'm a little bit surprised it's not happened already. But yeah, I'm still expecting him to go and Melia and Kepa to stay.

37:43James McNicholas: Do we have any idea where Setford might go? What level that might be?

37:49Andrew Allen: They were looking at Las Palmas as a potential destination for him. And that was the club that was reported in the media and the one that I'd heard about. It's tricky because he's only 20 years old. So I think it is hard to find a club who are willing to give game time to a goalkeeper who's that inexperienced in senior football. That's true. That's true. The pool is quite small.

38:14James McNicholas: I mean, look at what...

38:15Andrew Allen: I hope they can find something.

38:16James McNicholas: Look at what happened with Emi Martinez. You know, he had, what, four or five loan spells away from Arsenal as a young goalkeeper. And most of them, I think, were indifferent, if that's, you know, being generous about it. Some of them he barely played. Some of them he played for a bit, then didn't play or, you know, picked up an injury or they went with somebody more experienced. it is really hard to establish yourself as a first team goalkeeper at such a young age without maybe dropping down quite a bit of a level. You know, David Raya is somebody as well who, didn't he went to Blackburn? Was it Blackburn?

38:56James McNicholas: But did he have like a loan spell somewhere like way down before he came through at Blackburn? He did, yeah, yeah. He did.

39:02Andrew Allen: I forget where.

39:03James McNicholas: Good luck to him. Las Palmas would be nice. Season on the Canaries. The Airy Islands could be worse.

39:11Andrew Allen: Yeah, I do wonder as well. He came out of the Ajax Academy. Didn't he tell me, Setford, could there be a team in the Aero Divisity or somewhere like that? He might take the plunge on him, given his pedigree, coming from that academy. I don't know, but I really do hope they can find something appropriate for him because in the current pecking order, he's fourth choice, and I don't think he's going to get enough from under-21 football to kind of make it worthwhile for him.

39:34James McNicholas: Yeah. Okay, so then the question is like, is there going to be an incoming? If there will be anybody arriving, who that might be. We've heard about Malik Fofana. And I guess we have to say, at the time of recording, it's 10 to 10 right now on transfer deadline day. So things can change pretty quickly. But what are you expecting, if anything, from Arsenal in terms of the attacking business? There might be a question or two about how the summer has played out that we can leave until part two. But, you know, we're on deadline day. We've let Leandro Trossard go. We're selling Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus, and we've only added Christos Solis.

40:24You know, it feels, regardless of what might happen,

40:29James McNicholas: and we could be sitting here in 10 hours' time going, okay, everything looks a lot better. I have to say, it is pretty underwhelming from an attacking perspective, this window, so far at the time of recording.

40:43Andrew Allen: Agreed. And I have to say, personally, with all due respect, I don't think Malik Fafana dramatically changes that. I think if Arsenal do a deal today, that's probably the one they will do. it's feasible Leon need to sell really given their failure to qualify for the Champions League they had hoped to hold on to him and sell him next summer for a bit more money they're under a bit more pressure to bring in some revenue through player trading right now he's a good prospect, he's 21 he's a Belgian international at the same time he had a pretty significant ankle injury last season which kind of halted his progress interrupted his progress and he's still working his way back from that.

41:31Andrew Allen: He is a left-sided attacker. He is a different profile. He's more of a runner and a dribbler, someone who can really carry the ball. And I think it may feel like a sort of a decent bet in the final 24 hours of the market. You know, a player where you're probably not going to lose a great deal of money if it doesn't work out. And if he does fulfill his potential and become the player, some feel he can become, then you might have yourself a bargain. So it's, you know, it's sort of another solace-y punt really, albeit on a younger profile. But I don't necessarily feel like it's a signing that's going to stop people in their tracks.

42:16Andrew Allen: It's certainly not at the Vinicius Junior level, you'd have to say.

42:19James McNicholas: That's the thing. I mean, some of the reporting yesterday said that he was being, you know, considered by Arsenal. I don't know what you know about how this has come about because there was some talk about how he'd been offered to Arsenal by intermediaries. I don't know the details of that. It strikes me that as somebody who has the same agent as Gabriel Martinelli and Vinicius Jr., who Arsenal must have been dealing with throughout the summer, that those lines of communication should probably be open without the need for intermediaries. I don't really know. But the other side of it was that while he was being discussed, and it might be viewed as a market opportunity, if you can call it that, there wasn't universal approval or universal acceptance of it.

43:06James McNicholas: So maybe it's a case that if you have a manager who is, you know, coveting the likes of Julian Alvarez and Vinicius Jr. being presented with a younger player who doesn't guarantee you the same level of output or quality or experiences as players like Vinicius or Alvarez, you could understand why there maybe wasn't that universal approval for a deal like this.

43:37Andrew Allen: yeah I mean we know Mikhail Test of Favre's experience generally look at the composition of his squad look at the recent signings in terms of age profile he wants and also a lot many who've played in the Premier League as well where you're getting something relatively proven you know he's probably looking for that you know I think in Solis and if we get Fafana Fafana I don't think we know a great deal about those players we don't really It's very difficult to make an assessment of what they'll bring to Arsenal this season and say, well, we're better off than we were with Martinelli and Trossard.

44:14Andrew Allen: In my eyes, anyway. I mean, it feels like a pull of the roulette wheel, really, in terms of what we might get from them. And it might be better. It might be equal or it might be worse. And I think anyone who says they know is guessing, frankly. so yeah I am a bit I mean to be honest my expectations were pretty low heading into deadline day I must say so over the weekend you know I think it became increasingly clear that if it wasn't already clear that Julien Alvarez wasn't going to be moving Arsenal just weren't getting the encouragement or the noises that they would have needed and actually I sort of speaking as a supporter really I grew increasingly I grew to dislike the idea of Arsenal signing Alvarez in these circumstances I think I think that would have been a very questionable decision like to invest at that level for a player who was so palpably uncertain I add question marks

45:23James McNicholas: I think that's entirely reasonable I saw David Ornstein or his report to David Ornstein said he'd spoken to Mikel Arteta and said he didn't want to come to Arsenal. And, you know, regardless of how you might incentivize the player in terms of, well, here's more money or here's the role we have for you, if you're three days out from the end of the window and a player is telling the manager, who is a very persuasive character, as we know, you know, who can sell the idea of Arsenal to pretty much every player, even someone like Vinicius Junior, even if he turned it down, The fact that he was open and willing to listen to what Arsenal might be able to offer him from a footballing perspective tells you something about the way Mikel Arteta operates.

46:08James McNicholas: But if he's telling that manager three days out from the end of the transfer window, as much as I would be happy to see him in isolation as a player, because I think he's really, really, really good and would improve our forward line, I completely share those concerns. like if he does not want to be there if he's unhappy at atletico madrid ultimately he'll be unhappy at at arsenal because what he wants whether he gets it or not is is barcelona and i feel like you know the money it would have taken to to do the deal with atletico and the money it would have taken to to pay him you know the wages he would be looking for etc etc it did leave me uncomfortable but then you know the other part of that is why is it going so late in the window to try and make the attacking signing that really everyone was looking for Arsenal to make a lot earlier in the in the transfer window I mean with this Fofana guy is there a danger of bringing in a player that Mikel Arteta may not really want you know we know when he doesn't or isn't fully invested in a player, that player can end up being peripheral.

47:29James McNicholas: And if this is something that's, let's say, being put forward to him as a solution to a need, I think Arsenal really have, because we've let Trossard, Martinelli, Jesus go and only brought in one attacker. I know people keep throwing out names and permutations and anything and all those kinds of things. I just think we are in need of a signing and we've put ourselves in a position where we're now sort of going, well, here's a guy who is linked with Hull and Crystal Palace and a few other clubs. And, you know, Leon are a bit desperate for money and we could just sort of bring him in. Is there a danger of sort of just bringing in a guy now who fills a role for a little while, but ultimately isn't a player that the manager is particularly convinced by because he wanted something else?

48:17James McNicholas: He wanted something bigger and better, whether it was Morgan Rodgers or Vinicius or Alvarez.

48:23Andrew Allen: Yeah, I mean, I think there's no way they went into the transfer window with Mikel Arteta saying, get me Malik Fafana. You know, that's my first choice. It's kind of where we've ended up. And I think if we had made a major attacking signing, you know, in fairness to Malik Fafana, And I think picking up someone like him as a surplus to that, as a kind of additional prospect, a kind of attacking Christian Mascara, if you will, who was another kind of Andrea Berta pick. I think that would have been warmly received and accepted, but it does feel like a step down. At the same time, Arteta spoke last night about deck the importance of depth.

49:14Andrew Allen: And I think we may be in a position where he'd kind of rather have a player than the perfect player at this point in time. And so he'd rather have Fofana than not. If I was putting money on it at this point, I think Arsenal probably will progress it, will do the deal. But yeah, and listen, there are lots of people who would tell you he's a really, really exciting prospect. And that's, you know, I don't wish to be in any way disrespectful. At the same time, I don't think this is where Mikel's sights were set.

49:52James McNicholas: No.

49:52Andrew Allen: You know, coming off the back of that parade in May. No, couldn't be. I mean, you could see by the level of the targets that we were linked with that we didn't get, you know, what kind of player, what level of player he was really, really looking for. Because I think he understands that's kind of what we need.

50:11James McNicholas: That's kind of what Arsenal needed. And, you know, to be in this position on deadline day is not ideal. I think it's fair to say. But I've got a bit of a question about that for part two, which might expand it out a little bit. So unless there's anything else, unless there's anything breaking, we should go into a little break here and come back.

50:34Andrew Allen: I think so, yeah. Let me just check my phone. No, I think we're okay.

50:40James McNicholas: Let's take the break. Let's do that then. We'll be back with your questions and more in part two right after this.

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53:27James McNicholas: Welcome back to the Arsecast Extra. This is part two of the show where we answer the questions that you send to us on Blue Sky, at gunnerblog.bsky.social and at arseblog.com. Also on the Arseblog Discord chat server, which you get access to if you are an Arseblog member on Patreon. And if you are listening on Transfer Deadline Day, don't forget we've got a Transfer Deadline Day live blog going right up until 11 o 'clock tonight. Gluttons for punishment. but that is going over on Arsebog News so you can find that there. We'll give you all the breaking stories that come from James and David Ornstein and some of the big stories that are happening elsewhere with other clubs as well.

54:06James McNicholas: Just a handy way to follow along with everything that is going on on deadline day. I do have a question for you first if that's all right. Sort of in line with what we were talking about towards the end of part one there and on the Discord a nightmare on Elneny Street says. At the time of writing, given that we have just a few hours of the transfer window to go, how do you rate Andrea Berta's performance over the summer window? It appears that the club had to call in help to get the Konza deal over the line and that Berta may have had limited involvement in the Bruno deal. Given Arteta's squad needs, and I think it's in line with the lack of a forward signing as well, is there a case to suggest that Andrea Berta has failed to live up to his reputation?

54:54Andrew Allen: what I would say is I feel like that reputation, how can I put it? I sort of think the, I was quite uncomfortable with the way in which Andrea Berta was kind of deified during last summer's window. I found that odd, to be honest, not by everyone, of course, but by certain corners of social media, The idea that Andrea Berta came in and suddenly we could sign all these players, I just thought was incredibly simplistic. I think the real reasons that last window, last summer's window was so successful were planning, but also a willingness on the part of the owners. and indeed these exits to kind of lobby those owners to open the checkbook, to spend more aggressively than I think they ever had to win at that moment.

55:57Andrew Allen: And by the same token, I kind of find the way in which I'm now seeing Berta kind of dragged on the timeline equally surreal. Like it's very difficult as a supporting director, isn't it? It's like a lot of people are casting judgment on you without a great deal of knowledge of the workings of a club and what's actually going on. So I sort of think the cult of the sporting director is a bit misplaced generally. Like I sort of think it's a bit of an odd phenomenon. That said. I do think that this is a bit of a difficult second album in some respects for Andrea Berta. And, you know, I do think that this summer hasn't panned out as Mikel Arteta would have wanted in the attacking part of the pitch.

56:53Andrew Allen: I've got to stress that. I think the Bruno signing is a really good signing. The Cons are signing, I think is a good signing as well. but have we added that real sprinkling of stardust that sort of separates us and elevates us from Premier League winners to real Champions League contenders you know a squad that's capable of going all the way in Europe's Premier competition I don't think so and I think we had a great opportunity to do that as champions and it hasn't come off we haven't added that difference maker attacker, in my view.

57:33James McNicholas: I think that's very fair. I do. You know, on both sides of that conversation, what I would say is I like the signings of Bruno Gimaraes and Ezra Konza. They make a lot of sense to me. They're both very good players. They both, you know, in Konza's case, he gives us cover for one of our most important players. and in terms of the profile, he's not William Saliba, but then very few people are William Saliba. Could be, in fact, that only William Saliba himself is William Saliba. But it was a good way of covering for his absence, right? So I've got no issue with that. Similarly with Bruno, I think he's a really good player.

58:16James McNicholas: We talked about what he could bring to the team in terms of his passing, the way it is a bit more incisive than some players that we have. So I think that was something that the team needed. What I would also say, though, is it's not really especially difficult, regardless of how resistant Newcastle might have been or how resistant Aston Villa might have been, to pay big money for 28-year-old players. Because I think ultimately they always have their price. The club will say, well, he's 28. This is the last chance to get a few quid. We can use that money to rebuild. you don't have to be like a master of the transfer market to sign two 28-year-old players for a combined total of 130, 140 million pounds, whatever it was, right?

59:04Andrew Allen: In both cases, he was 51 with four in add-ons, I think. So in both cases, yeah, we went significantly over where we wanted to be.

59:18James McNicholas: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I'm not saying anyone can do that, but I don't think it makes you a transfer market genius to sign two 28-year-old players for big money. Where I think you need to show your chops is by getting that attacking player that Mikel Arteta very clearly wanted. and that if you set your sights high, if you set your sights on a Vinicius Junior, you know, I respect the ambition. I respect the attempt to raise the level and to go for something that, you know, most people would have thought, well, there's no point even doing it. I do respect that. But if you go through a summer where you're linked with Morgan Rodgers and he goes to Chelsea, you're linked with Vinicius Junior and he decides to stay at Real Madrid, you're linked, however contentiously or peripherally with Julian Alvarez, and none of those deals come through.

1:00:12James McNicholas: And on deadline day, having sold, you know, players who contributed a lot of goals and assists last season, Martinelli, Trossard, Jesus, whatever you think of them, whatever you think of the timing, and Arsenal's, you know, being at the right time, maybe to move Martinelli on, et cetera, et cetera. they played a lot of football they scored a fair amount of goals made a lot of assists I think it's something like you know 45 goal contributions between the three of them over the course of the season you know and you're on deadline day and you've added I'm not going to say speculative signing in Christos Solis but you know a 24 year old from Club Bruges you know that is a bit of a punt, as you said.

1:01:00James McNicholas: And now you're looking at a 21-year-old winger who, you know, might be on the market because Lyon have to sell because they didn't get into the Champions League. And that's where you've ended up as a club, as the champions. I think it's bad. I think it's really, really poor from an attacking perspective. So I can stand behind the Bruno deal and the Consa deal, even if I don't think it was particularly difficult for those to get done. but I think, you know, to be where we are, to not have improved the attack in any significant way, when everybody knew that was where we really needed to add something this summer.

1:01:40James McNicholas: We only scored 71 goals last season and again, I accept that we can be better from an attacking perspective if we keep Havertz and Odegaard and Saka fit over the course of the season, you know? but in terms of what we've done in the market, I think it's a big fail for Andrea Berta this window. Big fail.

1:02:01Andrew Allen: Yeah, I think on paper, you're right. On paper, we do look worse off really in the attacking part of the pitch. Of course, in reality, if those players stay fit, we will probably be stronger than we were last season. But in all those cases, it is a considerable if. A lot of these players do have question marks over their capacity to stay fit. People like Kai Havertz, Kai Osaka, Martin Odegaard, they have a lot to prove in that respect. I think it's interesting timing as well, and probably bad timing for Arsenal, that Solis had his kind of difficult game last night. I think how well he has started in terms of a really productive pre-season and then a great Premier League debut and a big contribution to Community Shield, I think that has provided Arsenal some cover, really.

1:03:03Andrew Allen: Do you know what I mean? It's sort of mitigated, alleviated a lot of concerns over the attacking recruitment. But I think that it was probably unrealistic to expect Solis to just play like that every week He can never hit that wall and never have to go through any kind of adaptation or acclimatisation or dip in form. I just don't think that was realistic for a player making the step up in the way that he is. And that's no slight on him whatsoever. That's just something you have to factor in when you're moving from the Belgian league to the Premier League. So I think that feels sort of timely that that's come the day before the deadline.

1:03:43Andrew Allen: But yeah, I think Arteta will feel frustrated, really frustrated about the failure to really kick on with the attacking signings. And I think my own sort of conclusion is that I think Arsenal got it wrong on the valuation question. You know, like when they were looking at the likes of Rodgers and Barcola and saying, well, we just don't think these prices are justified. It kind of feels like that just became the rate. And like you can't control those market forces that are causing those hugely inflated valuations to happen. I think ultimately, you know, Arsenal showed with Declan Rice, they were prepared to go there, to go to that level.

1:04:35And I think if you find the right players, you have to bite the bullet.

1:04:40Andrew Allen: I think for the cream of attacking talent, you do just have to bite the bullet now.

1:04:45James McNicholas: Sure. And you have to accept that whatever your valuation is, if the market is telling you something different, you either, well, you miss out or you go with what the market is dictating. And that is sort of how it works. I mean, is the argument, as you said just there, that getting the right player, is there an argument now that someone like Malik Fofana, maybe he is the right player, maybe he comes in, he's a bargain, blah, blah, blah. But if Arsenal really are serious then about improving the attack, that you don't bring anybody in now just because you've left yourself a little bit short, And you're sort of bringing in a guy who's a stopgap, who you could pay a bit of money for, a good bit of money for, who knows what Liam will want.

1:05:36That might be worth, you know, Arsenal have had their struggles in selling players is what I'm saying.

1:05:43James McNicholas: So, you know, you could bring this guy in. He might not be to the manager's taste. You know, it happened more than once at Atletico Madrid where the club, while Andrea Berta was the sporting director, brought in attacking players that Diego Simeone had no interest in whatsoever. And those players just ended up getting bombed out. They lost a lot of money. And also, you know, it takes up a squad space. Um, like as much as I feel like we need somebody and I really do, is there an argument to be made that like you fucked it, you've left it too late and any kind of stop gap solution, unless it's something like a loan or whatever is just not worth doing until you can get the right player in or, or because signing this player might be an impediment for, uh, for bringing in somebody in January, let's say, who might be on the market, who is more aligned with the kind of level that you're looking for?

1:06:42Andrew Allen: Yeah, I mean, I guess the idea with someone like Fafana is that he wouldn't inhibit something further in future. You know, if you're talking about a fee between 30 and 40 million euros, kind of in that solace range, probably not the most exorbitant salary for a 21 year old you know maybe it does create that kind of financial space that if something comes up in January or next summer that does truly elevate you you can still do it um but yeah it does feel a little bit like a signing for a signing sake and like I don't I'm very conscious of being disrespectful of a player who is a genuine prospect like he no I get it I get it already capped by Belgium.

1:07:24Andrew Allen: He's been a really important player for Lyon. But who were the clubs looking at him prior to Arsenal coming in in the last few days? You know, Sunderland, I think, were the front runners. Hull were involved. Is this a signing that really is sort of, how can I put it, befitting of England's champions?

1:07:49James McNicholas: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

1:07:51Andrew Allen: and I think that's what people were looking for you know we've now we've arrived at the point where we're Premier League winners you know what does that enable us to do what does that open up for us and that's not really come to pass you know that's kind of my feeling and yeah is that you know the signings we've made we could have made irrespective of whether we won the league yes it doesn't necessarily feel like we've capitalized on the kind of the pull and the momentum that

1:08:24James McNicholas: we've generated no no it feels like an opportunity lost to be honest because i think there was such a a wave of your celebration and goodwill you look at what happened you know after we won the league the the the way the celebrations represented the club and what it meant to the club and and if you're a player and you're looking at that you'd be thinking that's a fucking amazing thing to be involved in you know and i know they were quite special circumstances after so long etc etc but like as a representation of what the club is how well it's supported how big it is those celebrations were they were from north london to every corner of the globe right that as champions then to be in this position on deadline day, I think is a real opportunity missed and maybe an indictment of, you know, who we were looking at and how we've operated, whether it's from a scouting perspective or, you know, identifying targets that could make the team better.

1:09:31James McNicholas: I don't know, but it, you know, it's hard not to feel like we've let this window passes by from an attacking perspective, as I keep saying. Yeah.

1:09:40Andrew Allen: And like, you know, We all know the big names that were linked. And I have this slight feeling of kind of, you know, Vinicius and Alvarez were kind of the real top tier star names, but were they ever hugely realistic would be my question. You know, were they very plausible? I don't know. Like for all the effort and energy expended in those pursuits, I kind of would have rathered that we'd just done, like really, you know, got behind the Morgan Rogers pursuit or the Barclay pursuit, you know, not quite that top, top tier, but still talent that really elevates you and helps you kick on. And yes, maybe you have to overpay to get them, but if you believe in the player, I think it's worth it.

1:10:31Andrew Allen: And maybe they just ultimately didn't believe enough in those players. Maybe, but they were - And maybe they'll be proven right on that.

1:10:37James McNicholas: they were prepared to overpay for Bruno and for Konza in their minds. So it's not that they're, you know, unwilling to do it. I guess it is maybe a bit different with an attacking player. And they probably felt a little bit more secure with, you know, the experience that those guys had and the positions in which they operate. You know, they've seen them do it, you know, week in, week out. But anyway, listen, it remains to be seen what happens between now and the end of the window. But I do feel like this is a blot on the copybook for Andrea Berta. And I suppose more broadly, it's not just him because there's a team of people and the managers involved, the owners are involved, there's an executive involved in transfers, as you know.

1:11:31James McNicholas: But yeah, I can't help feel like we've missed a trick here.

1:11:37Andrew Allen: I mean, here is a related question from Bert the Gunner on our Discord. And he says, goodly morning, gents. Following Eze's Villa Park Remontada, going forward is the heightened defensive risk that he tends to bring on the left more than offset by his presence, composure and guile in attacking areas, especially in tough away games. Can Eze be, here we go, like a new signing, Andrew?

1:12:11James McNicholas: Maybe. Maybe. I mean, I think, you know, midfield is quite crowded. You know, when you've got Bruno, when you've got Odegaard, when you've got Lewis Skelly, you've got Rice, you've got Zubamendi, you've got Marino. Where is the space for Eberachie Eze? as it stands, you know, it does feel a bit more naturally on the left-hand side, particularly as we saw last night when Solis had a bit of a struggle, when he, you know, found it more difficult, that's where the manager went. I mean, he's never going to be an out-and-out left winger. He's never going to play, you know, that sort of blistering pace down the left-hand side, putting crosses in, you know, time and time and time again.

1:12:56James McNicholas: but can he operate from those areas and can he contribute from those areas? Absolutely. He played a part in the goal last night that helped us win three points. I think we saw maybe it was the venue or it was the memory of what happened there last season. But, you know, when he did need to do his defensive work, he did his defensive work as limited as that was. I mean, I think he kind of has to be. As it stands, he kind of has to be a really serious option for that left-hand side because Solis can't play every minute of every game. Just can't do it. It's too much to ask. So what else have we got in the squad?

1:13:40James McNicholas: Who else can play out there? Maduweke? Maybe, maybe, maybe, but like...

1:13:50Andrew Allen: Yeah, we saw a bit of Maduweke this time a year ago, didn't we? Yeah. Playing on the left-hand side. And then never again. But then not very much after that. To be fair, partly because I think Saka got injured and then Madueka got injured. And so everything got a bit disrupted on the right-hand side. I mean, others have said, oh, can Max play out on that flank? Don't know. I don't think Mikel will be in a hurry to do that. So, yeah, I think Eze will get lots of minutes. on the left. And I think, I think last night showed why. I think he does have that guile and composure. So I think, yeah, I think he'll share that role with Solis and, and anyone else who gets brought in.

1:14:41Andrew Allen: I think, I think that'll be principally where we see him. I think Martin Odegaard has kind of reclaimed that starting berth in, in the middle of the pitch. I mean, Ethan going out means, as it will be required in the center too, but there's also Mikel Moreno there's also Bruno Kimmeres there's so many options in the middle of the pitch that it just makes sense really to allocate him to the left predominantly so yeah I think we'll see a lot of it and I'm quite excited by it to be honest I mean I thought he was good there last night I thought he was good there at the Etihad towards the end of last season so yeah I'm intrigued to see what he can produce in that role

1:15:21James McNicholas: Alright moving away from transfers, something that a lot of people remarked upon last night was the fact that for the second game in a row, Kai Havertz did 90 minutes and our other striker didn't get on the pitch at all. So on the Discord, Sleepy Belgian says, not a single second this season for Victor Jokeres. How worried are we for him? Is he just going to be our cup striker or our Champions League striker? And Bus Stop Ratbag says, what's going on with Victor Jokeres? There's not a chance he'll start against Chelsea. So where does that leave him?

1:16:01Andrew Allen: I do think it's a bit odd, this, I have to say. Like, you know, after the first game, you and I really rationalised it and said there were players they wanted to give minutes and build them up. But then to not get a single minute in the second game either, I mean, it's a bit of a head-scratcher. Like a centre forward is often one of the first changes a manager makes because of, you know, how physically demanding I think it is going into duel after duel with centre halves and the ability to bring on someone fresh in that position to contest those challenges and to make runs in behind. And, you know, a lot of energy is expended in playing up front on your own.

1:16:41so it's typically one of the first changes you'll see to not make it at all across two matches

1:16:48Andrew Allen: uh it feels pointed i mean i don't think it's got any relevance to today i can't imagine any scenario where you know unless julian alvarez has a real big change of heart where arsenal have any contemplation of letting victor go um but i do wonder if some sort of message is being sent you know not necessarily a message of kind of you're not wanted here but maybe maybe michael atez wants more expects more victor jokeres and he's not too subtly letting him know that um that's total speculation on my part i just am finding it hard to believe it's entirely

1:17:32James McNicholas: coincidence at this point yeah i mean last week i think we did make the point that it was minutes for other players. And I think that stands up to some scrutiny, right? Last night, there were a couple of changes where Muscara obviously was forced off with an injury. Yes. Declan Rice went off with what looked like, it didn't look like anything serious, but it sort of looked like he was feeling something. So they put Zuba Mendy on. But at the same time, the striker change is one that typically happens around the hour mark, right? Exactly. And listen, I like Kai Havertz. I don't think he had his best game last night.

1:18:13James McNicholas: So it wasn't as if Havertz was playing so well that he couldn't come off the pitch, you know? So that's why it kind of stood out a little bit for me. You have to get no minutes at all against Coventry and then no minutes at all against Aston Villa. like I will say in the game stay, I felt, and I didn't think Havertz played particularly well, I felt okay or more okay with Havertz staying on than Jokeres coming on. Because I think he is better at holding the ball up and winning us free kicks, et cetera, et cetera, than Jokeres is. And I've said before, I don't think Jokeres gets a lot of the free kicks he should get, but that's still a dynamic that you have to be aware of when you're a manager and you're putting this player on.

1:19:06Andrew Allen: I think that was it, by the way. Havertz's ability to kind of hold the ball is what kept him on the pitch. I think that's the clear differentiator between the two at this moment in time. But yeah, it's a big change, as I've said more than once, for Victor from the role he was playing for much of last season. and I can't imagine he's thrilled about it.

1:19:33James McNicholas: By the way, when you say it's maybe a little bit of a message, do you view that as a message to the player or as a message from Mikel Arteta to, I don't want to say those on high, but to the sporting director, to the owners? We've seen it many times before in the past, not necessarily from Arteta, but from football managers, you know, who are trying to say, I need more. I need more than this. I don't trust this guy. You've got to fix this, you know, before the end of the window, et cetera, et cetera. You know, do you think there might be an element of that in the decision making? Or is it just sort of two games where maybe the, you know, the circumstances haven't been optimal for the introduction of Victor Jarkarez?

1:20:25Andrew Allen: that's an interesting kind of conspiracy theory i mean we have seen michael do things like that before i think uh to get his point across um i hadn't considered that when i said i just meant sort of tactically you know is there sort of more he expects of victor as the center forward that he is kind of trying to ram home um but again that's total speculation on my part like i really don't know it might just be an odd curiosity that's come about by circumstance and the game's not being conducive um but if you had sort of like i don't know i think if anybody had said at the end of last season victory of course will be an unused substitute in our first two premier league games i think a lot of eyebrows would have been raised yeah probably probably um but there you go I had a question about agents, I think.

1:21:28Andrew Allen: So, yes, Victor Yorke, Stateside Gunner said, given the impact Roc Nation has had on this transfer window, and to be clear what that is, is obviously they represent Fafana, who may well come today. They represent Gabriel Martinelli, who is gone or going to Saudi, and they represent Vinnie Jr. as well. Stateside Gunner says, should we be considering agents more in transfer discussions?

1:21:57James McNicholas: I mean, more than what? They are obviously fundamental to any kind of transfer. I mean, isn't it really all about relationships? Well, not all, but like a lot of what happens is down to relationships and who you know. And we've seen that at Arsenal in the not-too-distant past where close relationships between a sporting director and a particular agent mean that you end up signing quite a lot of players from that particular agent, you know? So I think the relationships between a club and sporting directors and agents are very, very important. I would be cautious about being too embedded with one particular agent or agency.

1:22:43you know you end up with a load of George Mendez players or whatever it might be you know we've

1:22:50James McNicholas: seen that play out at certain clubs as well you know when managers for example share an agent with a lot of players you go oh look look at that didn't happen with a 10 hag a Manchester United that they ended up signing a load of players you know who were from the the same agency were they the best players that they could get for those positions or were they the best players that that one agency had available for those positions and i think the argument is probably more that it's the latter you know so i don't think you can separate the agents from the transfer business but yeah i wouldn't be necessarily comfortable with you know really close relationships with specific agents or agencies because then it becomes like just a bit too easy and there's a lot of players out there there's a lot of agents out there and you need to be your horizons need

1:23:50Andrew Allen: to be as broad as possible i would say yeah i think it's interesting question this because we talk about agents a bit on here but i think agents are largely quite absent from the reporting around transfers. And as someone who sort of came to journalism slightly later and then understands how important and influential agents are in that world, I find that slightly odd, that there's almost this kind of a murder where agents are very rarely kind of singled out or even referenced. You know, when a club's going for...

1:24:29James McNicholas: Well, to protect sources, probably. Yeah, that's what I mean. I mean, do agents, some of them obviously want the profile, right? Some of them want to be known as the big superstar agents and they're very happy to be front and center. And that's not a new thing because, you know, those guys have existed since time immemorial in football. But at the same time, you know, is it better to be slightly in the background? And look, you can see certain stories, right? You can see certain stories about certain players that come out in certain publications and you're like, well, I think I know where that one is coming from.

1:25:10James McNicholas: Like, if you're good at reading between the lines, does the agent necessarily have to be part of the conversation? or would it be better for everybody's understanding of the transfer industry if there was if it wasn't quite as opaque when it comes to agents and the role that they play within transfers how players are sort of offered around or how deals come about like I think generally and I know this is very simplistic people will think well X club needs a defender they look at all the defenders in the world and go we'll try and get that one and then we call up their agent and call up their club and see if we can do a deal, when actually agents are much more proactive in terms of moving players around than people might think.

1:26:00Andrew Allen: Yeah, and we talk about Arsenal being offered for Fana. I mean, Arsenal will have been offered countless players in the last few days by agents who've got hold of Andre Oberta's number and know Arsenal need an attacker. and they will be being offered catalogue upon catalogue of potential signings. So that's just the way the market functions. I think I do think that some measure of transparency would be better. I think the reason it doesn't exist, as I've just outlined, is partly that agents don't really want to be, most agents don't want to be in the public eye in that respect. And it wouldn't help them in their careers necessarily for clubs to perceive them as somebody who was seeking the limelight or engaging with media or engineering transfers.

1:26:49Andrew Allen: But it's all going on. So, yeah, I do find it sort of curiously absent from most reporting. For example, you know, when Arsenal were first interested in Christoph Solis, one of the things he mentions to me was, well, he shares an agent with Mikel Arteta. so you know the lines of communication should be pretty straightforward um but that's not necessarily something you would ever see foregrounded in reporting i think as well maybe as well because for some it's like an uncomfortable insinuation it's what's what's your implication yeah yeah i mean so you mean you got to be careful around that kind of stuff but But it is absolutely a factor in what gets done and what doesn't get done.

1:27:40And those relationships are critical and key.

1:27:45Andrew Allen: And, you know, in some of our transfers this summer, it was the agents negotiating the player out of the club, effectively. You know, in the Bruno case, it was made very clear that it wasn't a club-to-club dialogue. It was a player camp to club dialogue trying to find the fee that would lever him out of there. So I think agents are a huge part of the market and remarkably, many of them fly below the radar. And I think that's, yeah, interesting.

1:28:23James McNicholas: Yes. And I think I'm right in thinking that Bruno Gimaraes' agent is somebody who we've had quite a lot of dealings with. down the years.

1:28:32Andrew Allen: Well, I think confusingly, that's not his actual agent on the paperwork. No, well, that's it.

1:28:38James McNicholas: That's it. There's this sort of line of separation which is gossamer thin, really. Yeah. But it is what it is. Yeah, anyway, look, we'll see what the agents can figure out. Can rustle up. Can rustle up. Before we go, I think we should just do this one question because I like it and it sort of helps us finish on a little bit of a positive note. Gabriel Martinelli is one of the players who's going to leave today. He's going to become the club's record sale. Whatever you think of where his career has gone in terms of where we thought it might go, he's a player I've always really, really liked. Really popular.

1:29:26James McNicholas: he's just got a great attitude every time he pulled on the shirt he'd give you 100 % whether it was left, right, up front wherever it was you know he spoke about how much the club meant to him how much he loved the club arriving at like 19 years of age and playing over 250 games and scoring all the goals that he scored so I think and I hope that despite the fact it's been a bit unseemly in my opinion his departure and the way that his departure has been handled I hope he leaves with a lot of goodwill from Arsenal fans. Even those who might think it was time for him to move on, surely you can recognize the contribution that he's made, a really positive contribution over the course of his time at Arsenal.

1:30:09James McNicholas: So Joseph Nathan on Blue Sky, who's at Dr. Joseph Nathan, says, what is your favorite Martinelli moment? Mine is his goal and run at Stamford Bridge in 2020. That's Celebration 2.

1:30:24Andrew Allen: that's a great one mine I was very lucky to be in the Bernabeu when Arsenal went and won there to knock out Real Madrid and yeah Gabriel Martinelli scoring the winning goal in that one takes some beating for me

1:30:40James McNicholas: yeah there's a couple for me I think in his first season he scored like one or two extraordinary headed goals I have to go back surely there's a like Gabriel Martinelli all goals compilation somewhere doing the rounds all goals for Arsenal compilation. So I'll have to go back and look at that. There were a couple of brilliant headers in the early part of his Arsenal career, which made me think, holy shit, this guy's going to score a lot of headers, which he didn't necessarily do. I will say the goal against Bilbao last season in the Champions League, because I was actually at that game and his song was sung lustily throughout that game, particularly after he scored the goal.

1:31:21James McNicholas: his Bella Chow song, which is, you know, very, very popular. But I also think the goal against Man City last season is one of the most important moments of our Premier League winning season. And people say, well, he only scored one goal in the Premier League last season. It's true, but what a fucking goal it was. What a really brilliant goal and what a hugely important goal that was. And I'm glad that when we sort of look back at last season and we think about the moments, you can think about, let's say, the Eze goal against Newcastle or Crystal Palace that gave us this 1-0, gave us really important 1-0 wins, that that Martinelli moment, I think it's fitting that he made a contribution that in the end was really, really vital to Arsenal winning the title.

1:32:07James McNicholas: So that's the one I'm going to go for.

1:32:10Andrew Allen: Yeah, might have been the difference. Might well have been the difference. Eze pass as well. So yeah, we wish him well. Yeah. It's been a fantastic signing, you have to say. Signed for a few million quid and he leaves us the club record sale.

1:32:27James McNicholas: I feel a bit sad because I think as a player, he's probably too talented to be in Saudi Arabia at this point in his career. I agree. It is what it is. and I wish him well and wish him all the best and thank him for all the things, all the good times and all the goals and assists that he gave us over the course of his time at Arsenal. Also, by the way, the Aston Villa goal, the breakaway goal against Aston Villa when Emi Martinez, remember when he went up for the corner and Unai Emery went absolutely crazy? That's a brilliant goal, not just because of the context of it, but because before he knocked the ball into the back of the net, he did the like, woo, celebration, put his arms in the air and who could not love that?

1:33:11James McNicholas: Right. Let's leave it there. Thank you, Gabrielle Martinelli. Thank you to all of you for being here and for listening and downloading and subscribing as always. Transfer Deadline Day live blog is ongoing on Arsebog News, if you're listening to this, on Deadline Day. Let's see what James can figure out between now and 11 o 'clock. Big responsibility on you, James, to get something done.

1:33:33Andrew Allen: Okay, mate. No pressure.

1:33:35James McNicholas: No pressure at all. We'll talk about it after the deadline a bit later in the week in an Arsecast. For now, though, folks, take it easy and we will catch you on the next one.

1:33:43Andrew Allen: Bye-bye.

1:33:44James McNicholas: Okay, a little brief add-on towards the end of the podcast, because we did caveat that at the time of recording, this was happening or this was not happening. But there is an update, James, with regards to Malik Fofana. And if he's a player you really wanted at Arsenal, you're going to be disappointed.

1:34:04Andrew Allen: It looks that way. my esteemed colleague David Ornstein has just done an exclusive story that Sunderland have reached agreement with Leon to sign Malik for Fana and he's been given permission to travel for a medical so barring some late Emmanuel Petit style shenanigans it looks like he will be a Sunderland player which you know I mean it won't surprise you to hear I'm kind of okay with that I wasn't ever convinced this was the move we wanted to make. It felt like more of a desperate late pivot, to be honest. Albeit one with some pedigree and a decent punt. But yeah, that seems to be another option off the table at this late stage.

1:34:55James McNicholas: Right, right.

1:34:56Andrew Allen: What's your reaction, Andrew?

1:34:58James McNicholas: Yeah, I'm not too surprised, to be honest. I'm not too surprised that if there wasn't internally the universal approval, if there were doubts about him being the player that we really wanted, then I'm going to guess that they decided there's no point spending the money on this player if that uncertainty existed, you know? So I'm like, I can't, honestly, I can't lose my mind over the idea of not signing a player I hadn't really heard of until yesterday. Yeah, that's fair. But at the same time, going back to what we were talking about, I still feel like we need somebody, but quite what that is or who that is at this moment in time, I've got no idea.

1:35:47James McNicholas: What's your gut feeling before we actually go this time? What's your gut feeling on what that means for the rest of the day, the rest of the transfer window from an Arsenal perspective?

1:35:58Andrew Allen: Well, as things stand, and bear in mind, things have changed quite dramatically in the last five minutes. So that could well happen at any time. As things stand, I'd be a little bit surprised if Arsenal brought anyone else in in the remainder of the day. I mean, wouldn't you be? It feels like time is running very short now. And in the case of Fafana, it feels like maybe there was a price at which Arsenal considered this, you know, a gamble worth taking. But there was reporting suggesting that not everyone was unified in their view on the player. So committing to€40 million seems something Arsenal weren't willing to do or weren't capable of doing.

1:36:41Andrew Allen: And so he's headed to Sunderland. All right. Well, let's see.

1:36:49James McNicholas: Let's see what happens.

1:36:50Andrew Allen: The good news is if he's really good for Sunderland, we can buy him in a couple of years' time for just 150 million.

1:36:56James McNicholas: You know he is going to turn up at Sunderland and have an absolute stormer in his first game and people's minds will – their brains will explode. That's just – it's inevitable that that's what's going to happen. When do we play Sunderland? I hope it's not soon. Oh, God. It is soon.

1:37:16Andrew Allen: Is it? It's next weekend. fuck off is it yeah yeah saturday the 12th fuck me 8 p.m oh god almighty i think we know how that

1:37:29James McNicholas: one's gonna play out all right well look we'll leave it there again um let's pray if you're gonna do it that way pray for some kind of transfer miracle for now though it doesn't look great okay we will leave it there again thank you folks and we will catch you on the next one because there won't be another additional bit after this one. We promise.

1:37:48Andrew Allen: Bye.

1:38:15Thank you.